


Garbed in Steel

by batzulger



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Military, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-04-23
Packaged: 2018-03-25 10:22:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3806800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/batzulger/pseuds/batzulger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Galaxy has a Bug problem and sometimes you just need a better soldier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Garbed in Steel

**Author's Note:**

> BtVS Property of Mutant Enemy  
> Starship Troopers Property RAH Estate.

**Chapter One**

I hate readying for a drop. It's not the drop itself, it's the chance for sudden painful death as the Raider gets into position.  
  
Fortunately us Raider types get the Mk II capsules. With the dramatic improvement of Bug targeting after several years exposure to how the Mk I got things done, Fleet Research developed the Mk II with some added Bug-Baffling Bonuses.  
  
"Corporal Summers," Ollie came up to me as I was strapping my suit in, "You good to go?"  
  
"Yeah Ollie. Hey Jim-Bob! You hot?" I asked.  
  
My fellow shooter nodded and swallowed his dip. I did the same with mine and we shut our helmet faceplates as the capsules hatches slid shut.  
  
There's a period of about a second when the power shifts from the ship to the capsule's fuel cells. During that shift it is completely dark in the capsule with no indicators at all and you are absolutely positively sure that the power is never coming on and then it does and you're ecstatic because you dodged one plasma beam and you can get ready for the second.  
  
My unit specializes in covert drops. We generally sneak into a system behind some debris and coast in on as little emitted power as possible. Captain Maclay is one of the best. She's been ship boss since before I joined Samson's Sabers and she does not screw around with our safety. We, referring to my fellow Troopers, appreciate that, as when it comes to ship stuff we have no control over our futures. On the ground we can deal, but in the ship it's up to the crewdoggies and the Captain.  
  
The lights came on as the fuel cells engaged. I started running through my checklist like I have a hundred times before; Power, atmosphere, propulsion, ECM, ordinance, augmentation, sensors. All in the green.

 

I knew Ollie was running the same list against everyone in the squad and Top would be checking everybody in both squads. I knew this because if I were in their place, that's what I would do. The MI is the sword and Raider units are the very sharp tip of that sword. My HUD lit up with the Selous's passive sensors being ported in to our data feeds. This was a hot world so we didn't dare go active.  
  
"A-Attention. A-Attention," the Captain's distinctive slight stammer came over our audio link. "We are three mikes from insertion. A-All ship's crew to firing positions. Sensors h-have detected a Trigoce Capital ship on farside. We a-are not currently being painted. Estimated response time from that orbit i-is fifteen mikes after detection threshold reached. Chambering now."  
  
There was a loud chunk and vibration as the cylinder loaded the first capsule into the launcher, then the rumbling of the rest of that feed lane cycling forward. Top would be first out as always. After him would come the rest of the beachhead party which would secure our pickup boat's landing zone. 3rd Squad had drawn that detail which meant 4th, including me, was the assault squad on this op.  
  
"Two mikes till insertion," the Captain's voice said quietly. At this moment the hull was being continually sprayed with a synthetic version of Bug cloaking gel which absorbed radar and most other probe signals. She had also aligned the hull to give the slimmest cross-section possible towards planetary and known orbital sensors.   
  
Then came, "Final A-Alignment locked. Firing," there was a 'whang' that echoed through my head as the first capsule was fired, then the next one a second later after the rumble of the cylinder cycling, then the next. After ten launches Captain Maclay came back. "Shifting a-aim for second wave." I got ready as I felt my capsule get rotated into the launch chamber.  
  
Then, "Final A-Alignment locked. Firing," I was first out for 4th Squad as team leader. Mullak was after me, then Lanzo, then Nunez and finally Arkadi. The Captain had lain in an optimum solution as there was almost no wobble as my capsule punched through the thin atmosphere. The low power micro-pulse transmission between the capsule and the Selous measured my rate of descent and altitude so that I would not have to radiate as well as feeding tiny course corrections so I would be hitting my assigned section of the mission drop zone. My detectors hadn't started screaming at me at least which meant I probably wasn't being targeted. That was all to the good because Raider capsules, Mk II or not, are not designed to withstand ASAT fire. They're all about not being spotted in the first place to be honest. As if on cue there was a faint hissing sounding through my suit as a precise mix of liquid gases was being ducted towards the surface of the capsule to reduce its thermal signature. As we Raiders can't afford to open our chutes early, (Can you say radar and visual signature?) to reduce drop speed, we have to cool down in other ways. The capsule's onboard supply of gel was being released as well as the coolant and the wobbling got stronger as the atmosphere thickened. The datalink informed me I was heading towards the ground at about a kilometer a second, stealth shapes for capsules tending to reduce atmospheric drag as well and I was about six klicks above ground level, it was easily time to eject.  
  
The capsule peeled like a banana, the side panels and internal fittings turning into a fine powder as the catalyst reacted to the treated monomer. I was still screaming towards the ground when I popped my jump jets and unfurled the reentry drogue. This small balute kept my jets aligned for maximum efficiency while my rangefinder pinged and then fired the braking blast. As usual I was squashed into the shock padding inside the suit as I skimmed across the rooftops finally grinding to a stop.  
  
Looking around I saw I was right on top of my target building with Mullak landing on my right flank. We were the entry team along with Nunez. Lanzo and Arkadi were our security element.  
  
"Ready?" I asked my guys.  
  
"We got your back!" Lanzo squirted back, even as he was helping Arkadi ready her railgun. Mullak had the massive assault cannon out while Nunez and I had our normal rifles. I came to the roof access and kicked it in.  
  
Out of a suit I wear a 6 Woman's. Inside my suit...well let's just say Cinderella's step-sisters' were a lot more petite. My 36 centimeter boot pulverized the door, the door frame and the Trigoce guard who was coming up to investigate the noise on the palace roof. Trigoces are not small being about one and a half Corporal Mullak's in height and mass, but a MI suit, even a Scout version like I was wearing, trumps that easily.  
  
"Ewww."  
  
"What did she step in this time?"  
  
"A guard," Mullak replied to Lanzo.  
  
We headed down the stairs, or rather jumped down the hollow center space; cutting our jump jets in to land softly at the bottom. The roar of the jets had gotten everybody's attention though.  
  
"Mullak suppress them! Nunez you're with me!" The incredible roar of the rapid fire rocket cannon started up as Mullak walked a burst across the first squad of guards to appear. I was following the glowing caret in my mapping HUD as I ran through the halls, Nunez right behind me the range was closing to our target. The armored door ahead of us collapsed as we both emptied a short burst into it. I dropped and baseball slid into the room shooting upwards as we entered the cellblock. The ceiling turrets were all on fire as I tumbled back to my feet.  
  
"Disable the locks," I called over to Nunez has I dropped the two stories into the heart of the high security block. The blast of the jump jets knocking down the guards who were rushing to shoot at me. I dropped a denial grenade and listened as the razor wires extended on the end of the tiny spearheads and leaving a web of slicy death blocking off the stairway to the upper galleries. Turning and ignoring the sounds of gel riot shot ricocheting off my suit I followed the caret to the secure section where the guards were armed with lethal munitions I smoked them both with a quick pair of shots from my rifle as the locks, over ridden by Nunez's tech skills, cycled open. I was greeted with more shots including from a roof mounted howler turret. That sonic blast could hurt me even through the suit so it had to go before I could finish my work here.  
  
I ran and jumped  _hard_ , which kicked in my jump jets, before shoulder blocking the turret off the high ceiling. I landed in a crouch and began methodically taking out all the prison guards who continued to fire. If they dropped their weapons I did not return fire. I moved quickly over to the cell in question, "Ambassador! This is Corporal Summers MI, stand clear of the door!"  
  
I looked through the wall with my millimeter wave systems and when she was clear I tore it open, "Nunez I'm making the pick-up!"  
  
I unslung the bodybag and triggered the inflation of the shock pouches, "Climb in ma'am!" I held the opening towards the Terran Ambassador, "We're getting you out now and make sure to put the mouth guard in, and it's going to be bumpy!" She nodded and slipped the bite plate in as she squirmed inside. I sealed it up and slung it on my back, "We are leaving now folks!"  
  
"Beachhead receives! Bring the package home!" Top's voice came across loud and clear.  
  
"Assault Support! We are leaving! Nunez plow the road! Mullak keep them back!" I began running back the way I came and triggered a long jump to get myself up to the upper gallery of the cellblock. Nunez was firing away at the heavy weapons troops that had just made their appearance. I swapped the bodybag over with him and drew the short barreled grenade launcher from its storage mount.  
  
As the explosions died away from the twenty round magazine we came charging out of the smoke. The Trigoce had good combat armor, but they didn't have suits so they were still picking themselves up from the impromptu bombardment as Nunez and I charged over them heading for the stairwell.  
  
"Corporal Summers," Arkadi called down, "We got incoming armor!"  
  
"Grav or ground?"  
  
"Hover. So...ground?"  
  
"Close enough. Knock down any with anti-air mounts first."  
  
"Got it!"  
  
By this time Nunez and I were up by Mullak who was swapping drums on the assault gun, "Ready to go big guy?" I asked. He nodded and fired a long burst while Nunez and I headed for the roof. Once there I switched my snoopers to telescopic and scanned the horizon. There were six flaming hulks in my initial viewing arc, "Nice shooting Trooper. Now pack it up, we are leaving."  
  
Soon we had leaped off the side of the palace and were bounding along on the bounce. Nunez was between Mullak and Lanzo to help protect the armored body bag from stray shots while Arkadi was in the lead and I was in the rear. We had ten kilometers to cover to the beachhead site and a seriously annoyed planetary defense force out for blood. The good thing about Scout suits is that they are fast. At flat out we can travel at almost 300 kilometers an hour in flat clear country. The sad part is we were moving in tight urban terrain and heading towards the Royal Gardens, that being the only place flat enough and close enough that we could land the Selous's pickup boat without the palace defenses turning it to slag on landing or take off. I was getting worried that Captain Maclay would get spotted and our pick-up would be extra rough until I heard over the nav channel...  
  
_Give us strength to face all danger,  
And where challenge is, to dare.  
Guide us, Lord, to wise decision,  
Ever of Thy grace aware..._  
  
Then it was simply a matter of hauling butt through the beachhead's firebase which was now holding off local militia units and scrambling aboard. As usual Top was last on as the drives engaged and we screamed towards space, ECM at full bore.  
  
I popped my helmet and looked over at Ollie, Sergeant Olaf, "Got yours?" I asked. His mission was to grab the orbital defense codes. He nodded and grinned.  
  
It was a good day.  


**Chapter Two**

I was just calming down from the graduation explosion excitement, when the rocks started to fall and the war really hit home.   
  
Buenos Aires, Nairobi, London, Beijing, Los Angeles. As far as chunks of cosmic debris are concerned they were really little rocks actually. Maybe only two and a half or so kilometers across, as we all found out later after the shock waves had stopped and all the fires had been put out. Still they were definitely big enough. The Bugs had flung them way around the backside of the Sun so that Space Forces didn't pick them up with their telescopes and optical sensors. They had also coated them with some kind of goo that radar couldn't spot. I wish Willow was here to tell me exactly how it worked.  
  
I was out on patrol when the blast hit. Even so far away as Sunny-D is from LA, the thermal pulse incinerated anything that was flammable. I was on the far side of Lee's Hill so I was protected by the blast shadow. Then the shockwave hit with the force of a 9.0 earthquake and I don't remember much after that for a while. I woke up in a hospital shelter set up by Terran Federation Crisis Relief. A little bit later I found out that Sunnydale California, Home of the Hellmouth, had been completed and irrevocably wiped off the map, along with everything else in about a 200 kilometer radius of LA. The earthquakes had continued as the San Andreas had busted open from the shockwave and now most of Southern California was pretty much trashed...along with all my friends and family.  
  
I had never really thought much about the War or what I was going to do after High School...not really. I wanted to become a Citizen of course and Law Enforcement was one way to do it. Even with the Order of Taraka trying to kill me in the process. Now any future I had was off the table. My mother was dead, Angel in Los Angeles was dead, Giles and Willow and Xander and Oz were all dead. Killed in their sleep thankfully, so they didn't have to feel anything.  
  
The doctors hadn't expected me to pull through of course. I had been pulled out from under a smoldering tree trunk three days later. Three days after that, I was demanding a pair of pants and a ride to the nearest recruiting office, before changing my demand to just a ride if the pants were too difficult to find. I was a Slayer and I needed to Slay.  
  
The doctors didn't know or really care about how I had healed so fast as they were still swamped with patients, so I got pants and a ride up to San Francisco with a supply truck.  
  
Once there I headed straight to the Federal Building. Fortunately I was able to get a duplicate of my National Identity Card. Without a NIC, I would be less than a non-Citizen.  
  
The guy at the desk was horribly scarred and missing an arm, "Yes ma'am?"  
  
"I'm here to enlist."  
  
"For what branch?"  
  
"Infantry."  
  
He looked at my 157 centimeters and actually managed not to even smile. This guy was good.  
  
"Maybe you should take the tests and the physical first," he said sagely, "Make sure you're a proper fit for the job."  
  
"Alright, when?" I asked.  
  
"Are you a High School graduate and are you here with your guardian's knowledge if you are below the age of consent?"  
  
"Yes," as of this moment, I was my guardian as far as I knew.  
  
"Hold on," he keyed a comm number and after a second he gave me a glow-guide, "Follow the blue edge."  
  
"Thank you," I took the piece of plastic and followed it to an office with a long line of people. Dropping the guide in a recycle bin, I waited my turn.  
  
Eventually I was at the front.  
  
"Name?"  
  
"Buffy Anne Summers."  
  
"Date of Birth?"  
  
"The 19th of January 2081."  
  
"Current Residence."  
  
"None."  
  
"What?"  
  
"My town was vaporized a week ago. I was living in Sunnydale."  
  
"Oh God."  
  
"After I got out of the field hospital I came here."  
  
"And your family?"  
  
"My mother was in Sunnydale, my father was in LA."  
  
"I'm sorry," the clerk sounded like he meant it.  
  
"So am I."  
  
He asked me some more questions and then pointed me at a terminal to fill out some forms. I was sorely tempted to put down 'Defender of Humanity' under the 'Other Skills' section, but refrained. I wasn't sad strangely enough. What was flowing through me was anger. I knew I couldn't have stopped that rock coming sailing in from space, but I could help lay down the pain on the creatures that ordered it flung, and that was good enough for me.  
  
I sat down on a reasonably comfy chair and waited for my name to be called.  
  
"Summers, Buffy!" and about two hours later it was.  
  
They ran me through a lot of physical and psychological tests before finally saying 'That's all, fill out this paper'. 'This paper,' was a list of all the Federal Service specialties I could enlist for. I filled out MI then all the other combat specialties, and left the rest of the paper blank. If I couldn't fight Bugs hand to antenna, then I really didn't care what I did.  
  
After about another twenty minutes of waiting my name was called again and I was ushered into an office with a guy wearing a plain suit at a desk, "Ms. Summers?"  
  
"That's me."  
  
"I just wanted to go over your test results. Physically you're in excellent shape. You're health is astounding especially since we determined you were only recently released from medical hold due to the rock attack. "  
  
I had held back a lot on my actual physical abilities. No need to be thought a freak of nature you know? But, it seemed like I had missed the Big Info peeking in on me, "You said physically?"  
  
"Well the results from your last school came in. I understand it was destroyed a few days before the attack?"  
  
"The building's fusion cell overloaded. The entire thing exploded during my graduation ceremony. I lost a bunch of friends the school principal and the even our town's mayor."  
  
"Yes, well...your grades were not very good, but you did amazingly well on both the college acceptance tests you took and on the intelligence tests we administered here. Quite frankly we could easily assign you to Ship's Crew as a Pilot Trainee. Your spacial awareness is superb."  
  
"I didn't put that down on my list," I said.  
  
"Yes well. Physically it seems you are well qualified for joining the Mobile Infantry, but are you sure that's what you want to do? It's nasty and violent."  
  
"I may look like a girly-girl," I said, "but I know what I want to do and it's that."  
  
"Alright then," he typed a few keys and then I was shown into a room with twenty other people where we swore the oath of service.  
  
"You can go now. Report to this office at 1600 hours tomorrow. Dismissed."  
  
I headed outside.  
  
"So what are you going to be doing?" it was the soldier that had checked me in and given me the glow-guide.  
  
"Mobile Infantry."  
  
"Really? You must be tougher than you look Recruit."  
  
"I am."  
  
"Well good luck there."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
I headed out and started walking. I had no real place to go and only the clothes on my back to my name. At least they had given us lunch at the inprocessing center. I wound up by the Golden Gate Bridge and watched the sun go down over the Pacific. Then I walked back into the city and found a relatively comfortable rooftop. It was a warm night and I finally drifted off to sleep.

**Chapter Three**

I started off my training at Camp Gary Gordon in North Dakota. The physical parts were easy except for me having to keep my full abilities hidden. I was quiet, kept to myself, and listened very very carefully to everything my instructors taught me. If I screwed up and didn't make it through, I would never be able to get out there and kill the things that had destroyed everything I loved. It was as simple as that, so I was patient. My Boot Camp Regiment had started with two thousand or so people. By the time we were done four months later, we were at less than 400. Voluntary withdrawal, medical, bounced for the good of the service, AWOL or Desertion... All were ways you could leave the course without completing it. None of that applied to me.  
  
I had graduated at the top of my class except in physical conditioning. I still had a few secrets. Most of my fellow trainees called me the 'mute' because I hardly ever spoke. Can you imagine me not talking or quipping? It was like all the fun had drained out of my life. I had spent the precision and dedication I had applied to fashion and converted it into military skills. The problem this would cause, was unusual, and at this point in my life I was far from a happy Buffy.  
  
***  
  
"Recruit Summers reporting as ordered!" I called out as I entered Captain Sheffield's waiting room.  
  
John Talley, the recruit on light duty behind the desk who was still recovering from his broken arm, pressed the intercom button and announced me. "Sir! Recruit Summers to see you Sir!"  
  
I heard the faint 'Send her in' despite the privacy field. Talley nodded and winked at me. I sighed and straightened my posture.  
  
I stepped inside and snapped to attention, "Sir! Recruit Summers Buffy A., reporting as ordered!"  
  
"Stand at ease Recruit," Captain Sheffield was doing paper work. By the looks of it filling out incident forms. I cringed internally, this was my fault after all. After he had signed in two more places he looked up at me.  
  
"Recruit Summers we are waiting on two more individuals, as I'm sure you have guessed," he had a weird expression on his face like I was some explosive device. I could understand why he'd have that expression.  
  
After a few more minutes Training Fleet Sergeant Bennett my Company Commander, and Training Corporal Linderman entered and announced themselves. Linderman had his arm in a sling and I cringed when I noticed it. He gave me a truly dirty look.  
  
"Fleet Sergeant," the Captain began, "Set the scene."  
  
"Well sir today was Squad Patrolling in suits. Recruit Summers was acting Patrol Leader while Corporal Linderman was in charge of the Opposing Forces. The Patrol was to take place along a fifteen mile stretch of Training Area Alhambra. The stated purpose in the Patrol Orders was to make their way along a vector to a rendezvous point where they would receive orders on a target to assault. The actual purpose of today's patrol was to assess reactions to an ambush."  
  
"Understood Fleet Sergeant. Corporal?"  
  
"Upon receiving our mission briefing, we proceeded to our ambush point and waited for Recruit Summers' patrol to enter the killbox. We held position until they were supposed to be in sight and they did not show. We continued to hold position until we were assaulted from the rear from complete surprise." I did feel kind of proud about that.  
  
"Recruit Summers' patrol counter-ambushed you?" the Captain asked.  
  
"Uh yes sir. During the course of the action I activated the training weapon interlocks as the parameters of the exercise had been exceeded and I felt a debrief was necessary. Recruit Summers merely dropped her disabled rifle and engaged me in hand to hand combat. During the course of this combat I was hurled in my suit into a boulder which caused complete systems failure. At that point I triggered the suit disable circuit immediately killing all power."  
  
"Fleet Sergeant," the Captain asked. "I see in the initial report that the Corporal's suit was disabled by precision strikes to the joints before it was hurled into the boulder?"  
  
"Uh yes sir."  
  
"I see. Recruit Summers."  
  
"Sir yes Sir!"  
  
"Your turn to tell me what happened."  
  
"Well sir. I was given the patrol course to follow and noticed that it proceeded through area where it would be very easy to be ambushed. As we have been instructed to always consider any movement as something to be careful about. I split my patrol. One section consisting of myself and Recruit Vollander would scout the trail and visually signal the second section to leapfrog us and scout the next section."  
  
"You did bounding overwatch on the entire patrol route?"  
  
"No sir. Only on the areas that had a high probability of blind corners, heavy brush and the like."  
  
"I see, carry on."  
  
"We found the Corporal's hide and decided to bypass it and continue to our rendezvous point. When we arrived and saw nothing there, it was obvious what the true purpose of the patrol was, so we proceeded back to neutralize the ambush."  
  
I took a breath. Now I was getting to the sticky part, "We quietly made our way through and achieved complete surprise on the OPFOR and began to engage. Corporal Linderman attempted to shut down our weapons as we had embarrassed him judging by the tone of his communications."  
  
"And how did you know that."  
  
"We tapped his suit's radio..." I said quietly.  
  
"What!?!" there was the explosion I knew was coming. "And how did you do that little trick?!"  
  
"Recruit Somora was a communication's engineer. He enlisted when Nairobi was destroyed. I got out of my suit and attached a hardline to the Corporal's squad push. Somora read back the signal. I wanted to know how many units the Corporal had and where they were located. It was easier to do if I could read his mail Sir."  
  
"So you found out his strategy and planned for it. Then you found out he had invoked privilege?"  
  
"Yes sir. Then he laughed at me as I tried to fire my weapon."  
  
"I see. What happened next Recruit Summers."  
  
"I lost my temper and beat him up...his suit up. Well," I looked at his arm, "him too I guess."  
  
"Do you have any proof of the allegations you have made about the Corporal's conduct?"  
  
I nodded, "I asked Somora to record all my data."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I know what it's like not to be believed and I wanted to make sure the facts got out."  
  
"I see," The Captain keyed his intercom. "Round up the rest of Recruit Summer's Patrol from this morning. Make sure Recruit Samora brings the recording."  
  
Linderman looked worried. He hadn't planned on there being any evidence.  
  
"Recruit Summers. Wait in the outer office."  
  
"Sir yes Sir!" I snapped to attention and did an about face.  
  
Talley looked at me as I shut the door and sagged slightly, "Damn Mute. I saw the damage report on Linderman's suit. You did all that in hand to hand?"  
  
I nodded, "Do you know if I can sit down?"  
  
"Sure, the CO and the rest of the cadre always rattle the door a fraction of a second longer than necessary."  
  
I was seated for only a few minutes before the door rattled and I was up in Parade Rest. Linderman exited.  
  
"You recorded it? Mute, that was slick," he didn't look upset for some reason.   
  
I rolled my eyes as I realized the play, "And I can smell a setup," I groaned, "It's just they weren't expecting a suit to get destroyed were they? And sorry about the arm."  
  
He gaped at me, "Who the hell are you?"  
  
"The lone survivor of Sunnydale California," I said.  
  
A few minutes later Samora, Vollander and Tine came in. Talley let the Captain know, and soon we were all in his office.  
  
Samora interfaced the data chip from his suit with the Captain's desktop and soon the view from both my and Samora's suit cameras filled the wall. Linderman's voice came in loud and clear, "Activate Weapons kill code Fever. Okay there hotshot. Now I can shoot you at my leisure Recruit. So what are you going to do about it?" he started to laugh.  
  
My voice sounded, "This." The view from Samora's suit saw mine leap into the air and land a flying drop kick on Linderman. Then I rushed him, dodging the fire from the rest of his team and began to smash and strike the weak points I had noticed during my suit training, before powerbombing him into the boulder. Then my suit froze.  
  
"I've seen enough," the Captain said. "Recruit Summers..."  
  
"Uh sir," I raised my hand.  
  
"Yes Summers."  
  
"I understand ethics and rules of war classes are not supposed to end with a multimillion credit piece of scrap metal and I'm sorry about that," his jaw dropped and I shrugged. I saw Linderman trying very hard not to laugh and the Fleet Sergeant was biting his lip. The rest of my patrol was just really confused.  
  
"All of you are dismissed except for you Fleet Sergeant and you Summers."  
  
"How did you know?" the Captain asked.  
  
"Linderman has a tell and I'm not as dumb as people think I am Sir. Why me?"  
  
"We do this to random recruits to assess leadership potential and creativity. Both during the patrol and also in the after-action. I'm sure that it will soon be common knowledge that you were hauled up on charges and barely managed to defend yourself. It's something that will make other recruits think a little more carefully about their actions. Now to the interesting question, where did you learn to fight like that?"  
  
"I grew up in a rough town. Once I realized that the suit was just something you wore it was easy to adapt to its range of motion. I'd rather stick with weapons against the Bugs though from all I've heard."  
  
"And you'd be right. Dismissed Recruit."  
  
"Sir yes Sir!"

**Chapter Four**

I managed to keep out of the '31 Crash Landings'; the cutesy nickname for ways to get kicked out of the service or get flogged, but I was pretty sure I had gotten Command's attention after my stunt with Linderman.   
  
I had spent most of my initial time in the suits just learning to be cautious and not tear the feedback web to shreds from a little too much exuberant Slayer strength. Once I had that down I spent the rest of my time figuring out what kind of performance I actually could wring from it. The suit is a weapon, and if there's one thing Slayers know better than anything, it's weapons.  
  
I had lost my temper and all the control that Merrick and Giles had pounded into my skull when Linderman had started laughing at me. My self-control was eroding from my anger at the bugs and that meant I could get sloppy. And the outcome of me getting sloppy could mean a lot of people could die and that was not acceptable.  
  
I meditated the way Giles had showed me and tried to find my center. Something calm and peaceful that would allow me to handle my near constant anger. The story spread how I had broken up a no-win scenario and a couple of people tried to talk to me. I couldn't afford human contact though. Not if I wanted to keep my edge sharp.  
  
***  
  
Eventually I left Camp Gordon, and was moved to Camp Smith in the Rocky Mountains. This was the final training post for MI where they refined our suit operation skills, patrolling, and drop capsule operations. The non-suit final phase here was survival course which I completed by simply keeping going to my objective and not bothering to sleep. The course intensified in work and we were trained in every weapon module that could be plugged into our suits along with the constant grind on personal appearance and behavior which was obviously set up to keep us fixated on every little detail.  
  
When I had been here for a while I would occasionally hear people talking about 'The Mute' and how she was the one recruit the instructors were scared of. That they'd tried to kick me out and that I had challenged the entire cadre to throw me off the post. That Special Operations had planted me as a goad to inspire other recruits. That I only wanted to kill Bugs and that the only reason I didn't talk was to conserve my strength for when I got a chance to go up against them...actually that one was kind of close.  
  
I was jogging back to barracks after chow, you never walked anywhere in training, when I saw a crowd around the Regimental Notice Board. I changed course and headed that way.  
  
"Hey Mute!" it was Somora. One of the few people that wasn't scared to talk to me.  
  
"Somora," I said quietly, "What's going on?"  
  
"Weekend pass lists...into Seattle no less."  
  
"Huh..." I turned to leave.  
  
"Aren't you going to check on when you get to go?"  
  
"Why?"  
  
That answer apparently surprised him and he looked at me strangely, "Mute, you are 18 years old are you not?"  
  
I nodded.  
  
"You should be having fun instead of working so hard at being a soldier. At least for a little while."  
  
"I can't. Don't want to lose my edge," I said turning to go.  
  
"You sharpen it too much, it will chip and become worthless."  
  
I didn't know how to respond to that.  
  
Somora stared at me, "I lost everything in Nairobi. I live to avenge as well. I understand what sort of demon drives you, Mute. The demon gives the strength and will to do what needs to be done, but it robs you of why you need to do it. It turns you into a mere tool."  
  
"That's been tried before. It didn't turn out well."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Past life. Doesn't matter."  
  
"See? That's just what I mean. Your past does matter. Your friends and family are dead. Well, so are mine. The MI gave me a chance to strike back, but I will not be a dead man walking; soulless and alone in myself. I will let the Bugs know I exist and that they could not destroy me."  
  
"Interesting word choices there Somora," I said suspiciously.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Nothing," I shook my head. "I have stuff to work on. Uniforms to wash. Barracks to clean...you know the story."  
  
"Alright. But you do you and your loved ones a great disservice," Somora walked away.  
  
***  
  
I was in the barracks polishing the stainless steel in the latrine. They always inspect it and it always gets dirty.  
  
"Recruit Summers what the hell are you still doing here?" it was Fleet Sergeant Bennett. Bennett was an average size guy, but when he talked you felt compelled to listen even when he didn't raise his voice. When he did raise it though...  
  
"Sir, this recruit is performing necessary barracks maintenance during this recruit's allocated off-training time."  
  
"Can it Summers," he leaned against the wall, "and Stand Easy."  
  
I dropped from the position of attention. "Sir yes Sir."  
  
He pulled out a can of dip and tucked a pinch into his mouth before offering me some, "Take a dip...that's an order."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
He glared at me and I reached out and took some. I must have looked pretty silly staring at the snuff.  
  
"Go ahead. Between the cheek and gum."  
  
I did and it had a strong flavor. I had tried smoking when I was in Junior High, but this tasted way different.  
  
"Okay Summers. Why aren't you on the shuttle to Seattle with the rest of your squad?"  
  
"This recrui..." I stopped as his nostrils flared, "I don't need to go on pass Sir."  
  
"Don't need or don't feel like you deserve to?"  
  
I shuddered and nodded, "Yes Sir, the second part I mean."  
  
"I lost a lot of friends on Dekkall. It was one of the earliest operations of the war and not one you hear about a lot, not like Bughouse where it was a hellstorm and we lost almost everybody. Dekkall was earlier than that. We were doing a reconnaissance probe to see exactly how the Bugs took over a world. What their pattern of tunnel building was. Their command and control structures. Hierarchy. Types of units. All that kind of stuff," he spit into the sink and I followed suit much more messily of course. I was feeling slightly dizzy from the snuff, but my Slayer kept me from feeling too disconnected.  
  
"We were on the Darby. It was a Raider Class dropship. Single tube, two squad capacity. Excellent stealth and we had come in with a swarm of micro-asteroids to mess with whatever sensors the Bugs had. It was so early in the war, we just didn't know you see. We didn't know anything..." he shook his head sadly. "So we dropped and we skulked and we gathered intel for two weeks and then we headed towards the LZ for pickup. Funny thing. The Bugs knew we were on the planet and didn't care. We weren't trying to kill them so they used us as bait to take out our ship when it came back. Losing two squads will not get you the knowledge of where Earth is. Losing a scout ship on the other hand..."  
  
"That's how the Bugs found us?"  
  
"Maybe? Anyway what was left of my squad that wasn't chopped to shreds on the LZ got picked up by the George Crook which was acting as the Darby's back-up. Two of us survived out of 22 troopers. Guys I had lived and trained with. When Steiger and I got back to civilization we went out and partied in their name. We couldn't let the memories of those guys down and just retreat into a bubble. Neither can you," he spit again. "I looked up your town. It was a violent place apparently even before the war."  
  
I nodded.  
  
"That where you learned to fight?"  
  
"Mostly."  
  
"Because fighting kept you alive?"  
  
"Yeah, I mean yes Sir!"  
  
"You friends helped keep you alive I assume?"  
  
"They really did."  
  
"And now instead of fighting you sit and brood and let yourself die inside...Shame. After all that your friends did for you that you refuse to live..."  
  
I grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the wall. I heard the plaster crack.  
  
The Fleet Sergeant looked surprised at my strength and speed but not so much my ferocity. I let him go and he slumped down to the floor rubbing his neck.  
  
"Good, there is some emotion left in there. You haven't completely disconnected. Good otherwise I was going to have to downcheck you."  
  
"Sir! This Recruit sincerely apologizes for her loss of control! This Recruit will willingly stand any punishment for laying hands upon a superior officer!" I was freaking inside now. I had just hit a Training Officer!  
  
"This?" he rasped slightly as he pointed at the slight outline on the wall. "No, you were going to get downchecked because we want soldiers not machines. The MI doesn't want anybody that can't handle the fact that they are human. This display shows that you are a human Buffy Summers. We just need to guide you back onto course. Next shuttle leaves in twenty minutes, be on it. And before you get changed...I'd get rid of that dip," he slid me the can. "Also I expect you to have this on your person at all times or the replacement when it is empty."  
  
"I can't get this on post."  
  
"You're clever. Figure it out," he turned and started to walk away, "Oh, you now have 19 minutes."

**Chapter Five**

So I ended up in Seattle on my own. My first stop was to a vice store to pick up some dip. I was pretty sure the Fleet Sergeant wasn't kidding when he said I had to keep a can on me at all times. My next stop was to a outdoor mall just to see what normal people looked like again.  
  
I was sitting on a bench eating an ice cream cone when I heard a wolf-whistle. I kept still and ignored it. "She's wasted protecting Earth. She could be protecting my house instead." I hadn't seen any other female Federal Forces here so I sighed. They would have to be talking about me. I finished my ice cream cone and got up. This area had far too many witnesses.  
  
I left the mall area and headed out across the street. My 'friends' had followed me outside. Of course they had. And it was time for me to get back to base.  
  
There were four of them and they were scum and they wanted something from me. As they tried to grab me I threw the leader into the hood of a car, sidekicked the second one and I was sure ribs cracked, elbow smashed the third, and uppercut the fourth who tried to pull a knife. As I straightened my uniform I saw a security unit pull up.  
  
"Any problem?" the driver called out, studiously ignoring the bodies on the ground.  
  
"No, but could I get a lift to the shuttle? I think I'm lost," I said.  
  
"Sure hop in. We'll take care of that other stuff."  
  
***  
  
I got back to Camp Smith fine and was getting ready to rack out when Fleet Sergeant Bennett came over to me, "Bounce and Brace Recruit!"  
  
"I snapped into the position of attention."  
  
"Can check!"  
  
I produced the can of dip.  
  
"Good...now you do NOT have special dispensation to have that so it will be confiscated if found. However you now have an order to keep a can with you at all times."  
  
"Sir thank you Sir!"  
  
"Also I received word a recruit may have been involved in an incident this evening. Good use of minimum force necessary," he walked away.  
  
I sighed and got ready for lights out.  
  
***  
  
Uniform inspections got tricky with me having to hide the can in a uniform that was not designed for that purpose and our training ramped up until we did our graduation drop on the moon. After that we came back and cleaned up our regimental area to get it ready for the next group coming through. After starting with 2000+ recruits we were down to less than 200. The rest had quit, been medicaled, been booted for cause, or died during training. We lost fifteen from training accidents. Us survivors now held the rank of Trained Privates instead of Recruit Privates.  
  
We left Camp Smith and reported to SeaTac Spaceport to be sent up to the mustering hub in geosynchronous orbit and get assigned to our new units. I was alone in the billeting queue as usual, and was idly considering having a dip when I heard, "Summers, B. A." called out over the pager.  
  
I went into the office and saw a civvy in a cheap suit and a data monocle sitting down at a table, "Sit down Summers."  
  
I did and he slid an ash tray over towards me. I waved it away and pulled out my can and raised an eyebrow. He looked surprised, I guess you don't see many people that look like me using dip, but he nodded that it was okay.  
  
"So Summers, this is Duty Assignments. We've changed up since the start of the war and are now trying to find the roundest hole for the roundest peg," he poked at the air and I could tell he was scrolling through the data projected onto his retina. "You're qualified in Marauder and Scout suit. Top of the class in patrolling and marksmanship. Glowing recommendations from your instructors....Okay, let's see who needs people."  
  
"Sir," I asked, "Why can't a machine do this?"  
  
"Assign you? They can and do frequently. But the Service tries to get a human into the link as often as possible. So you know that someone is actually responsible for some of the decisions and it's not simply at the whim of a program. There's a lottery that determines whether you deal with a machine logic or someone like me. You enter this lottery every time there's a duty assignment change. I use the same requirements as the program, but I am also here to talk to directly."  
  
I nodded, "So now what sir."  
  
"So now we find that a trooper with your ratings is needed aboard the Frederick Selous. So that's where you go. Any questions?"  
  
I shook my head, "Not really sir."  
  
"Fine," he handed me a glow-guide pulsing a faint yellow, "There you are. Good luck Trooper and get a few for me."  
  
"Thank you sir," I got up and left following the guide's pulses.  
  
***  
  
"Can I help you Trooper?" there was a big guy at post by the airlock.  
  
"I think so sir..."  
  
He laughed, "New meat. No sirs here except for Captain Maclay, the ship's CO. Our highest ranker is Top. I'm Corporal Huckleby and you are?"  
  
"Trooper Private Summers si...Corporal," I slid my hand with the implant chip under the proffered scanner. It went 'bing' happily.  
  
"Just call me Huck," he beckoned for the glow-guide and I handed it to him. "And it looks like this is where you're supposed to be. Let me see if I can scare up Sergeant St. Claire or Fleet Sergeant Wu..." he pressed the underside of his mastoid which meant he was activating his implanted comm. I could see his vocal cords bounce which showed that he was subvocalizing, but not enough air was being disturbed to let even my ears her what he was saying. The audio was ducted straight back to his inner ear at such a low volume that it was also impossible to distinguish. I had a setup just like it, but without the decrypt and frequencies though, I heard nothing.  
  
A few seconds later a wiry looking guy with the paired diamonds of a Fleet Sergeant slipped down the ramp, "We got a lost sheep Huck?"  
  
"No sir Top. Actually she's right where she needs to be," He passed over the scanner.   
  
The Fleet Sergeant gave me a curious look and shrugged, "Alright Trooper, on the Bounce! Follow me. We'll get you a place to doss and your gear stowed and then I tell you how things are done here. Got it?"  
  
"Sir yes Sir!"  
  
Top Wu laughed, "You don't need to do that. Just Sir or Top is fine. Come on."  
  
He headed inside and immediately at the top of the ramp left faced and saluted. There was a plaque welded to the hull. I stopped and read it.  
  
It had a name, 'Frederick Selous -- 1851-1917'. A quote, 'Well, you see, one day I am going to be a hunter in Africa and I am just hardening myself to sleep on the ground', and a relief bust of a bearded man. I looked over at Top Wu and he nodded. I stood at attention and saluted the plaque. Top Wu smiled and gestured for me to follow.  
  
He led me to a small cabin, "You're our only female trooper Summers. So you get this I'm afraid. The rest of the squaddies are two per..."  
  
It was small, I mean really small like if I hadn't been height challenged I may not have fit, "Sir, what was this for?"  
  
"It was the dog room from when we had a K9 team. It was converted to a billet when we lost the team on our detachments chart. Now stash your gear."  
  
I slid my two duffels into the lockers, I'd unpack later, and followed him up into the wardroom, "Attention!" Top yelled, there were fifteen guys in there. "Meet our newest bushrat. Trooper Summers fresh out of Camp Smith... Trooper Summers, welcome to 3rd and 4th squads of Samson's Saber's. Sergeant Olaf she's going to you."  
  
"Got it Top. You giving her the inprocess briefing or you want me to?"  
  
"I have paperwork, so it's all on you Ollie," the Top said with a grimace, "Unless you want to swap jobs?"  
  
All the Troopers in the ward room laughed at that.  
  
"I don't think so Top. Please enjoy the privileges of command."  
  
"Blow it out your ass Ollie..." the Fleet Sergeant grumbled as he headed out the door.  
  
"Summers! Get over here," the Sergeant called in a friendly tone, "Guys I'll be in the office if the ship catches on fire or something."  
  
There were a couple of "Got it Ollie's" and the like. The Sergeant led me into a small office area with two desks. Another Sergeant was sitting there typing away, "Yo Cajun, we got new meat. Sit down Summers," Olaf pointed at a the single extra seat that folded down from the wall. I did.  
  
"I'm Sergeant John Olaf. Everybody calls me Ollie, I'm the Squad Leader for 4th Squad. This is Rene St. Claire. He's from Louisiana so naturally..."  
  
"...I am called Cajun." he had a pencil thin mustache and a nasty scar across his chin and neck. "I am in charge of 3rd Squad and Top's XO so t'speak."  
  
"I'm Buffy Summers," I said. "It's nice to meet you both."  
  
"Ollie," Cajun said, "Bring up her bonafides. Let's see why they assigned a femme to us."  
  
Soon my records were floating in front of the projector, "Merde! That's good shooting. And you counter-ambushed a forlorn hope scenario? Well. We know why she's here then."  
  
"Uh why am I here? And what is here?"  
  
"Here is the Frederick Selous. What it is, is a fast Raider craft," Ollie began. "It holds two squads and only has one launcher. Our job is recon, intelligence collection, and fast strike. There are a lot of other races out the galaxy besides us and the Bugs and the Skinnies. Hell, there are other groups of humans that are not from Earth. Federal Command needs to know how they all side."  
  
"This sounds like work I'm too inexperienced for," I said carefully, "Besides, I joined to squash Bugs."  
  
"Well, you were recommended for this kind of work by your Training Captain and his Senior Sergeant," Ollie said, "I've heard of Sheffield. He doesn't make mistakes like that," he tapped the projection where the Captain's signature was. "Also, I have a notation here from your Senior Sergeant that you are to be considered as dangerous out of the suit as you are in it," Cajun raised an eyebrow as Ollie read that.  
  
"I don't know about that..." I began, but Cajun shook his head.  
  
"Don't try t'hide it Summers. The eagle eyes of the cadre were watching you strut your stuff. Where y'gonna put the lady, Ollie?"  
  
"Well since McNairy headed off to the promotion board and is going to wind up with a squad of his own, I'm light in the sniper section. Looking at these range numbers of our newest member..."  
  
"Yeah. I'll check the boxes on that. Take her down t'the morgue and get her geared up I guess would be next."  
  
"Sounds good, I'll get her to the sim tank and see how she does on a patrol too, once she's fitted."  
  
"Full squad?"  
  
"Not yet. C'mon Summers let's get you fitted with your party clothes."

**Chapter Six**

All but three of the suits on board were Scout models. We had no Marauders and the three non-Scout ones were Command. Trooper Xerxes from 3rd Squad was our armorer. He had downloaded my measurements into the configuration unit, and now he had me put it on and run through the diagnostics. When it was lined up he sent the data over into my new suit.  
  
Then Ollie escorted me to the weapons locker and pointed out my rifle and the rest of my deployment gear. The rest of the day was spent my stuff organized, fitting me into the watch list and the like. By that time had the dinner gong sounded and I headed for the mess hall where I saw all of both squads for the first time.  
  
"Attention on deck!" Top Wu shouted out. "We have a new member of Samson's Sabers. Trooper Summers fresh out of Boot. She's been slotted as 4th's second Designated Marksman replacing Luckett. Give her just as much hell as she deserves and no more."  
  
The group cheered. I saw Huck waving me over so I grabbed my tray and joined the table, "Welcome to the LRSU!" he said with a smile "Long Range Surveillance Unit I mean."  
  
I looked puzzled, "This isn't like any infantry section I was trained on?"  
  
Ollie sat down across from me, "Nope, this is a Raider unit like I told you. Clavell's Company is split into 4 Platoons. Each Platoon is spread across two Raider Craft like this. We're a Fleet Support Unit you see. The Captain gets his orders from the Fleet Marshall on our deployment. Each squad is two teams. You're with Huck here as well and Trooper Lanzo next to me, as well as Mullak who's on ramp watch at the moment. Sergeant Roll is your section leader. He's off getting some paperwork taken care of. In my section there's Talbot, Corporal Jacks. Whelan, and Trooper First Sommerling." He pointed out the other guys as he named them. "You'll meet Cajun's guys soon enough. Hard not to on a ship this small."  
  
"So twenty MI total?"  
  
"Yup. Twenty of us and Top drops with 3rd as their second Team Leader. Fifteen ship's crew. Hang on a sec. Hey Top!"  
  
"Yes Ollie?"  
  
"Can you get somebody to spell Mullak, so we can get Summers here up to speed?"  
  
"Sure...Cajun?"  
  
"On it."  
  
In a few minutes a massive man approached, "Mullak," Ollie said, "this is your team's new DM. Trooper Summers."  
  
"Pleasure," he reached out to shake. His hand was easily bigger than both of mine and he was definitely a demon of some kind.  
  
"So," Ollie began, "We have the schoolhouse tomorrow to see what Summers can do and to show her how we do things. Rollo will have the muster times whenever he gets back from admin hell. Rollo's team will report first and go through the basics with you Summers, then we'll do some full squad drills. Whelan is the other Designated Marksman. Lanzo and Sommerling are your spotters. We'll make sure to set up some long range engagements so you can get the feel of the procedures. After chow you four should head to the wardroom and talk about it."  
  
"Ollie," Lanzo spoke up, "Any word on our deployment?"  
  
The Sergeant shook his head, "Sorry no word yet. After you four finish up the quick brief head on over to Sister Sadie's in about say...two hours? I got first round. The rest of you apes are dismissed."  
  
***  
  
Designated Marksman is the official euphemism for sniper. The job is as a force multiplier and is based on the fact that shots from nowhere can panic or scare most sensible sophonts. The normal suit weapon is a rapid fire caseless rifle with a round that can turn a target into a thin greasy paste. The one I would be using however, was a linear accelerator that could do the same but at a range of over six kilometers. Not as many shots of course, but no muzzle flash and an absolutely insane muzzle velocity.  
  
DMs work with a Spotter, because at the ranges you're dealing with, your entire world is concentrated on the small field of view your scope gives you. The Spotter is your security and an extra pair of eyes that can see the forest while you're shooting individual leaves off one precise tree.  
  
Lanzo had worked with Luckett, the guy I replaced, for about six months. He seemed relieved he wasn't being slid into the DM position.  
  
"Not my skill set," he said when I asked him why. "I could do it, but I wouldn't be as good as somebody like you and Whelan," we had been looking at my range scores. Whelan dialed up Lanzo's and Sommerling's to compare with ours. They were both good shots, but even their range scores were nowhere near Whelan's or mine. Jim-Bob Whelan was a good ol' boy from Alabama who sounded like an old movie stereotype. Ed Lanzo was from Detroit Michigan, and Karl Sommerling was from somewhere in Germany and talked less than I did. It was okay though, Lanzo made up for both of us.  
  
"Huck and Mullak are our support guys. Not like we have squad heavy weapons like a normal though," Lanzo was telling me as I was copying down the range card format the squad used. "Mullak though could probably carry a AT/LAM and use it as a sidearm to be honest." An AT/LAM was an Anti-Tank Linear Accelerated Munition. Basically my rifle's short range brother with a serious attitude. The AT/LAM launcher weighed about 70 kilos and the each round weighed about 15 more. Firing one required you to brace even while you were in a suit.  
  
Whelan made a show of stretching, and tapped the watch printed on his ship-suit sleeve, "Looks lahk it's time t'put on our dancin' shoes," he looked at me and I nodded then we both stood up.  
  
As we exited the Selous we all saluted the plaque.  
  
"Remember t'snap one t'Fred enterin' an leavin'," Jim-Bob said. "We gotta uphold th'honor of his name."  
  
***  
  
Sister Sadie's was better than a dive but worse than a real club. Most of the women in there were civilian's. I only saw two others in uniform and neither were wearing the maroon and blue of MI.  
  
Ollie and Cajun had grabbed a couple of big tables in the back and Mullak waved us over.  
  
"I bid welcome to 4th Squad's esteemed distance interdiction section," Ollie said with a belch. He looked like he had been at it for a while. Cajun just rolled his eyes. I sat down and immediately a cup and a pitcher were slid in front of me. I shrugged and poured myself a cup before passing the pitcher down to Lanzo.  
  
"So Jim-Bob?" Ollie asked, "How's she look?"  
  
"Paper scores look good and she unnerstands the concepts. Guess we'll have t'get some range work t'see how good Summers really is, " he pulled out a can of dip, so I pulled out mine. The looks of shock were pretty special. Jim-Bob just grinned at me. "Told ya she unnerstands how t'be a good DM." He clinked his tin with mine as a toast.   
  
I sat back and tried to figure out how a Dranzil demon had made it through Fleet medical. Yeah they looked mostly human, but I seemed to remember them having extra lungs or something. Mullak caught me looking at him, "Yes?"  
  
"Mullak's a pretty cool name. Where is it from?"  
  
"A little town in Romania. That's where I am from too. You?"  
  
"Sunnydale California."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Damn Summers, wasn't that near LA?" Lanzo asked.  
  
I nodded, "I managed to survive the rock. Nobody else did."  
  
"I see why y'all up and enlisted then. Good on you."  
  
"Thanks Jim-Bob."  
  
We drank some more then headed back to the Selous. Even drunk, Ollie managed to salute. I slid into my tiny compartment and fell asleep immediately.  
  
***  
  
The next morning I was in the sim-tank in the schoolhouse. The Selous had ten sim pods so it could run a full squad at a time through training. The first part of the day was us long range shooters working on a simulated range, the second part was the full squad doing a patrol mission without suits.  
  
"We do this a lot? Not use the suits I mean?" I asked Lanzo.  
  
"Enough. Bugs have sensors that can spot a suit. We need to scout out a planet without leaving too much of a trace...That kind of thing. We're not doing engagement training today. Just moving in cover, overwatch, security, spot drills."  
  
I nodded and got into my pod.

**Chapter Seven**

I had been on the Selous for long enough to get three drops in. A Raider Detachment goes in early and hangs around trying not to be seen most times so the best locations for the full combat drop can be located. When those combat drops start, we're usually being pulled out and re-tasked for the next planet, but that's just a small part of our job; which is why my squad was in light combat armor and normal weaponry (that is, non-suit scale), walking in the rain on a Shirrath controlled world.   
  
The Shirrath are trying desperately to stay neutral in the fight between the Bugs and Humanity. They aren't being opportunists like the Trigoce or patsies like the Skinnies. They are just desperately trying to stay out of everybody's way.  
  
This is why their planets tend to be used as hideouts by pirates and marauders.  
  
You'd think that with Humans vs. the Bugs, lowlifes would be few and far between. You'd be thinking wrong. Criminals exist and with the Federal military resources stretched so tight, overrunning a few colonies seems like it would be an easy way to get rich. Sometimes law enforcement catches a break, and they're able to track a marauder vessel's course. Then they can go in and catch them at their homebase.  
  
If it's on an unclaimed or deserted world that's not a problem, but if it belongs to another government? Then it gets really sticky which is when we get called in.  
  
***  
  
4th Squad drew locating the base on a jungly planet called Kir XIV. Huck insisted on calling it Planet Frank and Sergeant Roll agreed that was a far better name. This was the majority of the sub-vocalized communication on our Squad push along with the annoyance at the weather and the fact that the marauders even existed. 3rd was suited up and waiting, but as we wanted to sneak in and out, they were being held back as a rapid reserve. Anything that would tip the Shirrath to the side of the Bugs was considered a bad thing. Did I mention that the Shirrath could be just as corrupt as any human? Bribery from the marauders was probably involved in the choice of this world as a base.  
  
I had my long rifle in its ground bag, along with an suppressed SMG in case we got jumped. Whelan had the same. Mullak and Talbot were carrying light machine guns and were our support along with Ollie's and Rollo's grenade launchers. The rest of our guys simply had suppressed assault rifles and pistols. Our armor was lightly powered to handle the weight and fortunately climate controlled as well with active mapping camouflage, but we were maintaining as sneaky profile as possible.  
  
The Selous's sensors were about as impressive as you could imagine a stealth drop ship could have. Captain Maclay's people had managed, through passive methods only, to locate the base within a four klick radius and we had been landed by pick-up boat about four flicks from that area.  
  
The terrain here was awful. Mud, streams and heavy brush were the main culprits and we were entering a broken, almost mountainous area. None of us were really sure why the Shirrath even wanted this planet, as they liked dry and desert-y for the most part. No accounting for tastes I guess.   
  
There were some big creatures in the area and we had snuck up on more than a few of them. The active camo blended us into our background terrain and broke up our outlines. Our version of light combat armor also had out of phase sonic emitters near the joints and the boots to quiet the motor and movement sounds by echoing an interference pattern. This meant we were as subtle and as quiet as technologically possible and we had the training to keep it that way.  
  
"Another 'Grizzly'," came over the squad push from Jacks who was currently on point. 'Grizzly' was the name Lanzo had made up for a vaguely mammalian carnivore the size of a typical passenger floater. "Up on the right about 25 meters."  
  
"That's awfully close for typical hunters to cluster. Especially ones that size," Karl Sommerling cut in. He had been a Professor of Biology before the war.  
  
"Pack hunter?" Mullak asked.  
  
"Possibly. That could be quite dangerous."  
  
"Got it Karl," Ollie cut in, "let's veer south a little and not make it nervous."  
  
We kept going until finally we were in the target area, "Ollie, I got something!" Jacks called out. "Major hit on gravimetrics. There's a drive core around here."  
  
"Right, Huck pull out your rig and head south about two hundred. Rollo, you go with him just in case. Let's get another bearing and strength. Jacks. You and I will do the same to the north."  
  
About twenty minutes later they were back. Ollie called us into a huddle and brought up the battleboard on our HUDs.  
  
"We're here about one klick from the signal source," A caret flashed on the wireframe terrain render. "Summers take the high ground from this hilltop. Try to get a line of sight in. Jim-Bob, you head to this one, that way we got both entrances to this valley covered as well as the signal source. The rest of us will come in this way as a combined team down past this waterfall. Huck, you're on point. Move out."  
  
Lanzo and I headed up the backside of a draw, cursing our way through the thick and clinging vegetation. After about forty five minutes we were in position and looking down into a well-hidden but bustling community. I pulled my rifle from its case while Ed configured his visor into spotter mode. Then I lay down in the muck and attempted to make myself comfortable.  
  
"Long 2 ready," I popped my faceplate briefly and spit over to one side before resealing.  
  
"Long 1 ready," came Jim-Bob's drawl.  
  
"Assault 1 ready and beginning entry," came Ollie's voice. "Maintain overwatch. One false move and you are free to engage."  
  
"Roger."  
  
"Roger."  
  
I powered up my millimeter wave and started mapping all sources of metal with the low power pulses. Then Jim-Bob's voice came over the push, "Got a suit."  
  
"Bearing?" I asked.  
  
"130 off me range 225." my HUD made the corrections as I keyed it in and outlined the approximate area. Thermal showed some kind of heavy duty temps going on behind the camo nets. I pinged it with the millimeter wave and got a hard return. It was the right configuration.  
  
"2 Concurs, suit."  
  
"We are in strike range, on my go order, take it down as well as anything not us."  
  
"Ed?" I asked.  
  
"Confirming with Karl so you and Jim-Bob don't double-team," Lanzo was using a side channel to tag all the potential targets and exchanging that data with Jim-Bob's spotter. "And done. After the suit you'll be starting from the left."  
  
I nodded, popped my faceplate and spit again, "Long 2 up."  
  
"Long 1 up."  
  
"Assault in 3...2...1...Hit it!"  
  
Jim-Bob and I fired simultaneously. The suit was an old model, obsolete by Fleet standards, but it still carried a ton of armor and had the muscle to haul around a lot of nastiness. Our long rifles, while not as powerful as the ones that we carried when we were in our suits, in Anti-Armor mode still fired a heavy steel cored ceramic round at about Mach 11. The magnetic 'springs' recoiling the barrel far down past my head and the venturi generators giving a counterblast were needed to help absorb the massive recoil. The muzzle energy of the round was on the order of 30k joules and that was quite enough to blow a hole through the suit. This hole was joined by one Jim-Bob had created and the spalling inside the armor was easily enough to demolish the occupant.  
  
I switched the ammo feed to General Purpose from Anti-Armor and began picking off targets. I could vaguely hear the slam-slam-slam of my compatriot's long rifle as he did the same. Lanzo was methodically designating target priorities and I could see thermal signatures dropping to the ground.  
  
I felt weirdly dispassionate about it, the killing of people I mean. They had killed a ton on the raid of Colony 127 so I guess I considered them bought and paid for. I still felt weird though. It's not like they were Bugs after all.  
  
***  
  
After the Assault team had finished planting the charges we were crashing down the ridge and hauling butt to make it to the LZ. Sneaking really wasn't as necessary as long as we didn't get spotted by the Shirrath Governmental forces which obviously took extra care not scanning this particular area.  
  
Lanzo and I had made it to the perimeter of the LZ and went prone waiting for evac. Jim-Bob and Karl were right behind us. I popped my faceplate and pulled a fresh pinch out of my can. Jim-Bob did the same.  
  
"You guys are disgusting," Ed groused.  
  
"Beats bitin' ma fingernails," Jim-Bob said with a smile.  
  
"Coming in hot!" Ollie's voice came over the push. "Tripped over a major patrol during exfil and Huck got tagged."  
  
I slammed my faceplate closed and drew my machete, "I'll be right back."  
  
Running through the jungle without my rifle bag sped things up a lot...particularly when I could use all my advantages. I went high scaling one of the trees, and found a place in the canopy where I could look down on the Assault team's route.  
  
"Ollie I'm at your eleven about 100 meters ahead. Bring them past."  
  
"Summers? Are you crazy? There's at least twenty of them."  
  
"Trust me." A moment later I saw the team charge underneath me and right behind then a bunch of guys with automatic weapons. I waited till they were underneath, fired one precise shot from my SMG and stepped off the limb.  
  
The problem about being a Slayer in a suit is that as I've mentioned before I run the risk of destroying the control circuitry if I go all out. Light combat armor is a different story. I can disconnect the augmentation so it free wheels, letting me use what I've got.  
  
I landed right in the middle of them and immediately took off a head with one swing. I was ducking and rolling with my camo set for random patterning so that they couldn't get a good bead on me as they started firing wildly. I took out three more before the 'Grizzly' I had winged with my opening shot came charging in. After that I simply went back up the nearest tree and hightailed it back to the LZ.   
  
"What the hell's going on back there?" Ollie asked.  
  
"I called in reinforcements," the whole jungle shook as the 'Grizzly' roared in rage and pain as it continued to engage the ruins of the marauder patrol, "How bad's Huck."  
  
"Real estate deal."  
  
"Damn."  
  
The pick-up boat landed in less than a minute; we were on the Selous in less than twenty more; and out of the system within the hour.

**Chapter Eight**

Nunez was brought in for a replacement for Huck and life went on. I had been assigned to the Selous for almost a year when we docked at Sanctuary, the Fleet's liberty port and fallback in case Earth fell. Sanctuary is a boring kinda place, but when you've been stuck in a ship as long as we had, any planet where people don't want you instantly dead is highly appreciated. More so when there are bars and live music and people who aren't your unit.  
  
I had only gone up against the Bugs twice in the past year, the rest of the time it was marauders and other threats along with the travel time between targets. FTL is wonderful and all, but space is stupidly big. The anger that was in me was still boiling and didn't seem to be showing any signs of cooling down and I was actually pretty cool with that.  
  
I was walking out of a vice shop after topping off my dip supply when I heard a yell, "Mute!"  
  
"Somora!"  
  
My old platoon member from Boot jogged over, "Damn it's good to see you. Who are you with?"  
  
"Samson's Sabers off of the Frederick Selous and you?"  
  
"Raiders, it makes sense. I'm assigned as a security element to Langsdorff's Regimental Command. Stationed on the Joachim Murat. Want to grab a drink?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
We headed over to a club and ordered a couple of beers, "So Mute, how are you? I mean have you calmed down a little?"  
  
I shook my head, "Still have the dreams of everything being all perfect and shiny at home then the flash of light. Not every night of course, but often enough to be creepy."  
  
"I wish I could help...I have dreams of Nairobi of course, but...not like yours. Is it better than the time in Boot?" Somora sounded really concerned.  
  
"Yeah," I nodded, "I can deal now that I've actually gone up against the Bugs. Each time I watch one die I feel a little better."  
  
He shuddered, "That's not healthy."  
  
I shrugged, "Nope, not in the slightest, but the shrinks cleared me for combat-ops..."  
  
"You know this is a suicide run right?"  
  
"No way. I would never do anything that would endanger my team. I'm wired to protect, Somora. It's hard to explain and harder to believe the reasons, but trust me when I say; I cannot allow my team to get hurt by my own actions. Getting myself killed in a stupid way would qualify."  
  
I must of looked so intent and serious when I said that, because I saw him relax a little, "That's good to hear. So, any good stories you can tell me about? You high-speed, low-drag Raider."  
  
I told him about some of the pre-drop scouting we had done and how beautiful some of the worlds I had been on had been. He told me about how all these ops got planned and how units were assigned. Attached to a command element he saw how everything worked.  
  
I shook my head, "You have to be crazier than I am to want to be an officer."  
  
Somora nodded in agreement then finished his beer, "I got to get on the bounce. My ship's lifting soon. It was really good to see you Mute!"  
  
"You too Somora," I watched him head out and finished my beer.  
  
***  
  
I was back in the Selous, working out in the gym. Because we spent a lot of time out of the suits on ops, we needed a good quality place to work out so we had an honest to god gym. I had to be careful using it so I didn't blow my cover though. Anyway I was jogging slowly on a treadmill when I heard a scuff behind me, turning I saw Captain Maclay.  
  
"Ma'am!" I hopped off the treadmill and snapped to attention. It was really weird seeing her in Trooper Country, honestly I had been on this ship for a year and had never even seen the Navy section. "How can this Trooper assist you?"  
  
She was a little taller than me, slender, and shaved her head like most of us did. When we go into operational maneuvers, gravity is cut off to save power and so we don't make an even bigger signature on space-time. Long hair sucks in Zero-G.  
  
"Summers, have you seen Top Wu?"  
  
"No ma'am," I looked puzzled, "Shouldn't he have his alert comm on him?"  
  
"He should but he apparently doesn't. I'll discuss the matter with him later. Thank you Summers."  
  
"You're welcome ma'am."  
  
She began to leave then stopped, "You don't look like a typical MI."  
  
"Really?" I said innocently.  
  
"I've seen your record though. I think Top is making an excellent decision," with that she headed out up to Navy Country.  
  
I was puzzled by that until dinner when I saw Rollo heading down the gangway, "Here you go Summers, new orders."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You've been selected as an NCO candidate. Here are your Corporal stripes. You'll be attending the NCO Academy on Earth once we get back there. Until then start studying up on these modules." He handed me a data chip.  
  
"Whoa whoa whoa time out Rollo. Do I get a choice in the matter?"  
  
"Sure. Do you want to stay a Trooper until the war is over?"  
  
I nodded in understanding, "Yeah I see."  
  
"Good, let's get chow!"  
  
When we walked into the mess hall the entire complement of both squads were there. They began to cheer as I entered. Top waved me over and got me to stand next to him on top of one of the tables, "Congratulations to our newest NCO, Corporal B.A. Summers. Who has proven time and again that she has what it takes to be a Raider." There was more cheering.  
  
"Corporal Summers, the floor is yours..."  
  
"Speech! Speech!"  
  
"Uh," I began, "Speaking in public is so not what I do. I just hope I don't screw up?" I got down off the table to applause.  
  
Top continued, "In other news, Sergeant Roll has been accepted to Officer Candidate School. That means Team 2, 4th Squad is going to need a new leader. As the only NCO in that team, that duty falls to Corporal Summers."  
  
I gulped and looked over at Rollo who just flashed me an evil grin.  
  
"Corporal Summers, 3rd Lieutenant to be Roll...after chow I believe you both owe us a round or two?"  
  
I shook my head and actually smiled.  
  
***  
  
Rollo had stayed behind on Sanctuary waiting for a deadhead back to Earth and OCS. His replacement was a new trooper named Jenni Arkadi. As I was going through her paperwork with Ollie we both agreed that she should take my place as team DM. The team leader should not be glued to a long rifle.  
  
Arkadi was friendly and tough and we ended up sharing quarters and shoving Lanzo into the dog bay as his old roommate Rollo had left. That was fun.  
  
Shortly after the Ambassadorial recovery we were finally on our way to Earth. The Selous needed a drive overhaul and a refit and Mullak and I had the Academy to attend.  
  
We were in the shuttle heading down to Georgia when he looked at me curiously, "You're the Slayer aren't you?"  
  
I nodded.  
  
"I heard the Hellmouth got flattened so everybody assumed the Slayer was dead. It just finally clicked for me...who you are I mean. You've never called me out."  
  
"No reason to," I replied. "I have bigger Bugs to fry than a Dranzil that's trying to help protect humanity."  
  
"I suppose you do. Thanks."  
  
"Not a problem."  
  
In a hour I was back on Earth for the first time in almost two years.

**Chapter Nine**

The Fleet MI Non-Commissioned Officers Academy for Advanced Reconnaissance is a twelve week course designed to do two things. Teach junior enlisted on how to be an NCO and how to lead a Raider team. The course was held in an old base named Camp Merrill up by the Dahlonega Mountains. There were classrooms and barracks there for the first part where we learned all about the care and feeding of young troopers, how forms need to be filled out, how to progress complaints and issues up the chain of command etc...  
  
This part was insanely boring and as I had learned after becoming a team leader absolutely essential. An organization as large as the Fleet simply can't function and get all the resources to where they're needed by plain guesswork. They have to have up to the ...well as soon as possible info on demands expenditures casualties and wear and tear. Keeping track of that is the NCO's job from the lowest Corporal to the Command Mast Sergeant of the Fleet. So I became bookkeeper Buffy with stylo-holding grip!  
  
The only break we had from the never ending class work was PT and we all looked forward to it every day. And when I say all, I mean every NCO Corporal on up in a Raiders unit had to pass through this course. It was a requirement to stay in the Raiders. Now there are only a hundred or so Raider MI Companies of five platoons of four squads of ten Troopers in the Fleet, but still averages say that there would be around fifty of us per class. There really aren't many of us compared to the almost two million line company MI recruited from across the colonies. One thing humanity has a lot of is humans, and even with its strenuous selection the MI always can keep its ranks full. The problem is that the Bugs are a heck of a lot better at that party trick than we are.  
  
So the first four weeks were datapushing with 48 people I didn't know at the start and Mullak. Then we would do murderously tiring PT which exhausted the rage we all possessed against clerk-typists. Then chow then study then sleep. We could leave post, but there was really no desire to. We just wanted the boredom to be over with.  
  
***  
  
After the hell in a classroom portion we got into Patrolling and Raider leadership. This included 'how to teach your officers' as a sub-set of 'keep the Troopers from killing themselves'. The first portion was all without suits and included wilderness, mountain and swamp where they flew us down to the Florida coast and kicked us into the Gulf where we had to swim ashore in full gear and organize a mission. It wasn't like we expected to need the swimming and land nav skills, just that we needed to be able to put together and enact plans where everything seemed to be going wrong and we weren't thinking clearly. It was artificial stress and it worked beautifully for putting things in perspective.  
  
The last portion was suits. It was the first real opportunity I'd ever had to use a Command Suit and it was pretty wild the amount of data we had access to. We used them to show us what capabilities our commanders had and to see what limitations on intel gathering they possessed.. That way we could anticipate the kind of knowledge that would be needed in a certain situation.  
  
We ran exercises in cities, including the ruins of LA, and in open fields and even in artificial caverns on the Moon and Mars. All these were to let us know what the tech could and could not do, and why the MI still needed the human touch instead of leaving everything up to a scientist with a pushbutton.  
  
After my turn in the Command Suit I was happy enough to get back in a Scout model though, and my classmates all pretty much felt the same. To be good at what we did, you really had to understand that you, not the suit, were the most important component. Sure the suit helped, but even without it, I would expect everyone of my classmates to do any mission and try their best to succeed and that's why I trusted them.  
  
Finally though we completed the course with no Voluntary Withdrawals and only two medical pulls. We had set some kind of record apparently and the cadre were really happy with us. That was great and all, but my classmates and I just wanted to get back to our ships and get back to the war.  
  
***  
  
I was in a staff meeting along with Ollie, Cajun, Xerxes, Top Wu and Captain Maclay and her XO.  
  
Top had a projection up, "It's called Operation Royalty. Target is Planet 'P'. This is a raid but on a scale I can't even imagine."  
  
We were going after..actually the Fleet was going after...a command and control Bug. We knew they had them. The Workers and Soldiers knew their jobs well enough but they didn't have the brains to plan or strategize their operations, and if the Bugs were anything like the Earth social insects they kinda resembled they would have a queen or something like it. The goal was to go in grab a Queen or whatever hierarchy they had and use it to either negotiate or figure out why they attacked us in the first place.  
  
The Raiders were going to go in first on Planet 'P' and try to find Bug concentrations. We were then going to guide the Line companies in from 2nd 3rd and 5th Divisions to establish beachheads all while not dying in the op of course. After we had a beachhead maintained, more Line dogs would be coming in and start searching for a boss bug.  
  
Simple plan, which meant we were terrified.  
  
"How are we gearing up?" Xerxes asked. As the ship's armorer it made sense for him to ask that.  
  
"Ollie, Cajun, and I will be in Command gear. We'll need the comms to keep track of everybody. Captain Clavell and LT Sampson will be on the ground with us. 1st and 2nd Squad off the William Kekwick will be to the west of our designated area. The rest of the Company extending in that direction," Top went on. "We're going to gear heavy. This is a long held Bug planet so they are in deep. 'Y-Racks' for your weapon's guys. Team leaders get nukes."  
  
"What's our job when the second phase rolls in?" I asked.  
  
"Help them stomp Bugs of course."  
  
***  
  
I was lugging along an assault gun to match the one that Mullak had. We had no illusions that this was in any way going to be quiet once the Line unit's drop pods started screaming in. Captain Maclay had gone over our orbital insertion routine that she and the rest of the Raider skippers had worked on, and with the Navy starting a pretty messy and noisy battle a few light years in the opposite direction, they were pretty sure they could slip through the Bug's scans.  
  
If she said it was possible, I believed it. She had never let me down before.  
  
Jim-Bob and I clinked dip cans as we waited to suit up. It was a ritual we'd formed over the last two years. It didn't mean much, but it was something to hang on to.  
  
"That stuff'll kill you," Arkadi said as usual.  
  
"And a Bug won't and much faster?" chorused our standard reply. We all laughed.  
  
I powered up the suit and slipped into it before sealing the chest plate and bringing up diagnostics. All green. Just what I wanted to see. I did a quick check of my team and we were good to go, "4 2 Up," I signaled as I triggered the pod seal.  
  
There was the loading and the counts and the cross-checks and the power swap. Everything that said this was just another drop. I brought up my HUD and stared at my team's zone of responsibility...wondering where would be the absolute best place to locate Arkadi and Lanzo to cover the three of us as we planted the beacon.   
  
"Take it easy Buffy," Ollie's voice came over the private push. "your BP is spiking. We can do this. This is what we do. This is what we are."  
  
And suddenly I was calm. I was a Slayer and my demons were on the planet below me and I was nuclear capable. This was what I was. Sudden terrible vengeance. I knew no matter what, I was going into the Bug structures and go hand to antenna with them and nothing and nobody would be able to stop me. I was going to find their command structure and make it hurt.  
  
"Yeah that's better," Ollie said happily, "settling down nicely."  
  
"No problem," I replied.  
  
***  
  
We made it to the ground undetected a matter of minutes before the rest of the Fleet warped in. I said undetected but that's actually kind of a lie. The Bugs knew we were here, but from their anti-space gunnery they didn't have an exact idea. I had Arkadi and Lanzo on overwatch while Nunez and I set up the beacon and Mullak was close in security. We got the beacon down then bounced up to the high ground to hang on when the Bugs noticed they had party crashers.  
  
There was a blast of static over our comms as the Fleet arrived. Our ships had already boogied to a safe-ish distances so the big boys with one or two platoons or even a full company of MI aboard could stage their drops then get out of the way so the next could drop. Scattered between them, siege ships fired down on any anti-space systems that reared their heads and flattened any source of sensor traffic not Fleet. From our seats up on a ridge line we got the full show as energy and missiles screamed out of space and rearranged the countryside. Then the drop pods started crashing through and Bugs began erupting from the ground. We gave what covering fire we could, with Arkadi's long rifle easily capable of blowing two or even three Warriors in a row apart and Mullak and my assault gun's launching 5.5cm tamped explosive charges at 100 per minute scattering their rushes. Once the Line Units lit up though...Marauder armor can carry a lot more ammunition then Scout can.  
  
We held our position for hours, supporting as we could and designating targets for the siege ships whenever possible. Finally though the Bugs had fallen back and we came down the slope to help out however we could.  
  
There was an officer with Major's hashes on his armor so I saluted and reported, "Corporal Summers of Clavell's Raiders with my team."  
  
"Good work Summers. Status report?"  
  
I zipped him our current telemetry and he made the weird head shake that meant his pickups inside had noticed him nodding, "Thank you. We're good for now rejoin your command."  
  
"Yes sir, " I saluted and my team headed west to join up with the rest of our guys.  
  
By following our unit beacon we found ourselves in a company area without actual officers. As we approached we were checked in by the clerk we had in our admin section that travelled with the Captain.  
  
"Summers!" I received a comm, "bring your guys to tent 3."  
  
Inside the heavily armored field structure was an airlock and a field suit repair station. We took the opportunity to unbutton and stretch and scratch. Ollie was waiting for me as I stepped out of the suit. A couple of techs from the Selous were changing power carts and I yawned as I walked over to my Sergeant, "Hey Ollie, how'd we do?"  
  
"No casualties from the Fred, we got lucky c'mon let's meet the LT and the Captain. He gathered Mullak up as well and we headed to the end of the tent.  
  
"Sirs?" he said politely to six guys discussing where things should be. They were Clavell and all the Platoon Leaders. I saw Top Wu standing by a bunch of other Fleet Sergeants and a Unit Sergeant ,they were muttering about supply levels."  
  
"Sergeant Olaf," one of the LTs walked over to us. "What's up?"  
  
"Thought you'd like to meet some of your newest NCOs Lieutenant Samson, Corporals Summers and Mullak."  
  
"You thought right. I saw your class results Buffy and Tanner. Great work."  
  
"Thank you sir," we replied.  
  
"I know the CO is going to want to get your impressions from the Bug actions during the assault. Hang on a sec."   
  
A little while later Captain Clavell walked over, "So whatcha got for me?"  
  
Mullak, Ollie and I told him everything that we had seen while the rest of the Platoon Sergeants and Platoon Leaders listened. After we were done he nodded, "Yeah they were not as heavy as expected. It sure as hell was feint in some ways. Okay boys," he said to the Platoon Leaders," get your guys fed and rested and the suits rearmed. There's going to be a counter-strike sooner than later. Tommie!"  
  
"Yes boss?" LT Samson replied.  
  
"Get your guys supporting the 5th's beachhead get them to fan out a ways and look for craters. They may use the settling to sneak a tunnel through. We'll get replacements out as we process them in."  
  
"Got it boss, Wu! get the guys suited and ready to move!" I was already heading to my gear before the LT had finished speaking.

**Chapter Ten**

My team was bouncing long and fast across the surface. We had a full load of power and air now, so we were good for about twenty-four hours of life-support. We also had rearmed. And I had managed to get my hands on another four peewees...I now had seven nukes.  
  
I called a halt when we saw a crater that you could damn near fit a ship into with room to spare. My telltales were indicating a stupid amount of radiation and I felt sorry for the line dogs that maintaining a perimeter. The Bugs could and would send units out of a hole that big no matter the rads. I marked in the offset beacon onto my waypoints and we continued our sweep. Our exact mission was to locate and delay any Bug forces that came up until a pack of Marauder suits could come in and maul them into submission. We had the speed, the sensors, and most importantly, the long range weaponry to keep Bugs at arm's reach while withdrawing them into a heavy strike team's killzone.  
  
Right now we were hanging out on another ridgeline on this desolate hellhole of a planet and I was listening to the random chatter from the various line unit command pushes...  
  
"Captain! 'Bacon Fry' at Albert Two, Black One!" then the same voice on a higher priority channel, "Liaison flash! 'Bacon frying' at Albert Two, Square Black One!"  
  
'Bacon Frying' is what it sounded like when Bugs were tunneling, "4 1 this is 4 2," I called in, "Responding to a hotspot. Unit IDed as 'Black 1'."  
  
The Captain's voice came over our squad push...whoa, "4 2...Summers right? That's the Blackguards, we are now on direct support. Help them out. 2nd 1!"  
  
"Yessir!"" it was LT Samson.  
  
"Round up your guys and funnel them towards your 4 2."  
  
"Got it boss!" then our platoon channel lit up calling for all our guys to start heading my way.  
  
"Ollie," I sent over the squad link, "We're heading in."  
  
"Right behind you! Stay sharp."  
  
***  
  
We bounced down the ridge at full speed, "Saber Element, this is Captain Blackthorne. Your boss gave me the push."  
  
"Yessir!"  
  
"I have a team about to enter the tunnels. It's a short platoon and they could use a hand."  
  
"On it sir!" I switched to team push, "Redline it, some line dogs need help now!"  
  
***  
  
We got to the hole there were hordes of Bug bodies surrounding it...they were all Workers weirdly. A Trooper was minding the store who had taken a nasty shot across the legs and wasn't going anywhere for a while.  
  
"Summers, Raiders. Status?"  
  
"They entered a minute or two ago ma'am, comms are all screwed up."  
  
"Wonderful," I muttered. "Who's in charge down there?"  
  
"Mister Rico and Sergeant Zim," as we were talking, Arkadi was breaking down her long rifle and unslinging her carbine while Mullak and I were readying our assault guns.  
  
"Okay, flash me your unit push. I got point, then Nunez and Lanzo. Arkadi you're in front of Mullak. Ready?" they all nodded, "Then let's do this," I jumped down into the tunnel.  
  
***  
  
The tunnel was big, about 20 meters in diameter and fairly smooth. I switched on my MAD systems to see if I could pick up any traces of the metallic suits ahead of us.  
  
"BRRRRUMMBY!" came echoing over the Blackguards frequency.  
  
"MR. RRRICCCO!" came echoing back.  
  
"Ow ow ow ow!" went the Slayer with the sensitive ears.  
  
"Not so loud," said the first voice, "Where are you?  
  
The first guy, Brumby? Answered, "Sir, I don’t know. We’re lost."  
  
"Well, take it easy. We’re coming to get you. You can’t be far away. Is the platoon sergeant with you?  
  
"No, sir. We never..."  
  
The sir, Mr. Rico I guess said "Hold i," and clicked off.  
  
I set off the signal hopper to try to lock in on his frequency as well as get a bearing. Scout armor can do some cool tricks.  
  
"...ere are you?" and there he was!  
  
A new voice spoke, must've been the Platoon Sergeant Zim, "Sir, my advice is to make rendezvous with Brumby’s section—then return to the surface."  
  
"Answer my question."  
  
"Mr. Rico, you could spend a week down here and not find me . . . and I am not able to move. You must..."  
  
"Cut it, Sarge! Are you wounded?"  
  
"No, sir, but..."  
  
"Then why can’t you move? Bug trouble?"  
  
"Lots of it. They can’t reach me now . . . but I can’t come out. So I think you had better..."  
  
"Sarge, you’re wasting time! I am certain you know exactly what turns you took. Now tell me, while I look at the map. And give me a data dump off your D.R. system. That’s a direct order. Report."  
  
I received the data the same time Rico did and our suits were fast. We were using all our non-electromagnetic sensors now as the wave-guide effect was screwing up the others.  
  
Occasionally we passed MI surrounded by Bug bodies, holding this or that Y-intersection, they waved at us as we blazed by. They knew what we were doing and why and they would have done exactly the same. There was an MI in trouble.  
  
We came screaming around a bend just in time to see a wave of Bugs attempting to demolish Rico and what was left of his guys. On the far side I saw a suit of Command with a nasty looking Bug being held in front of it like a shield. I switched to the Blackguard Platoon Sergeant's push, "Zim! Raider team inbound high! Use us as a distraction!"  
  
"Got it!"  
  
"High road team!" I yelled and skimmed along the roof of the tunnel landing between the Bugs and I presumed Zim. After that it was a knife fight basically with the line dogs keeping reinforcements from party crashing while me and mine allowed Zim to maneuver out of the corner he found himself. Then I felt the ground beginning to give way.  
  
"Tunnel opening!" Lanzo yelled as a Warrior erupted from the ground and tore him and his suit in half. About a million more were right behind it.  
  
"Cover me!" I yelled as I slapped my ammo release and started altering the fusing on the peewees.  
  
Slayers have a talent with weapons. We just know how to use them to best effect. As Nunez, Arkadi, Mullak and the remains of the line unit opened fire over my head, I crouched down and shorted the safety interlocks.  
  
"Get the hell out now!" I yelled over all the local frequencies. "Fire in the hole!"  
  
***  
  
We got Rico and most of his guys out and Zim got the Brain Bug out. We lost Lanzo and Nunez needs a mechanical foot now but he's still on active duty at least.   
  
I got read the riot act for constructing a field expedient atomic demolition munition with no training or authorization but seeing as we did get the bug out as well as most of the troops. It was more like a slap on the wrist and I was cool with that. Mainly because I got to kill more bugs at once with one attack than any other single Trooper ever. Sunnydale felt slightly avenged and did I ever get my slay on.  
  
Zim got a medal, I did too. That we got off Planet 'P' still breathing was our biggest reward.  
  
***  
  
I watched as my Squad Leaders prepped our guys for the drop. This time we were slipping in to a Trigoce Citadel World. Apparently they had been trading food to the Bugs for Federation tech. Not cool.  
  
Sergeant Arkadi came up, "Top, we're good."  
  
I took a dip and nodded as I slid into my suit. First one out you know. Sole survivor of Sunnydale and all...now we were going to storm an effective castle.  
  
I looked down the Squads health and status telltales...there was a twinge and I shook my head and checked one set in particular extra carefully. There she was, the one person I could not seem to get rid of and my newest Trooper.  
  
"Hey Dawnie you can still back out," I sent over the private push.  
  
"Not hardly Top, would you?"  
  
I laughed and keyed the ship channel, "Captain Maclay, we're all your's ma'am!"  
  
"A-all right Top, we are three mikes from insertion. A-All ship's crew to firing positions. A-and now for your listening pleasure..."  
  
_Give us strength to face all danger,  
And where challenge is, to dare..._  
  
**THE END**  
  
  
  
**a/n**  
  
The Dawn bit is based on my personal feeling that in the episode, **Buffy vs. Dracula** , these lines...

  
  
BUFFY: I'm outta here. (Joyce comes onscreen, in the bedroom. Buffy moves offscreen but keeps talking) Riley and I are going to the movies.   
JOYCE: Okay. Have a good time.  
  
Buffy goes into another room and sees the back of a girl with long brown hair.  
  
BUFFY VO: What are you *doing* here?         ** <\---This one right here in particular**  
  
The girl turns around, looks surprised, then gives Buffy a sour look. Buffy doesn't look too pleased either.  
  
Cut back to Joyce in her room, calling out.  
  
JOYCE: Buffy? If you're going out, why don't you take your sister?  
  
Cut back to the bedroom. Both girls turn to look at the doorway, looking annoyed.  
  
Buffy and Dawn (in unison): Mom!

  
  
...are the exact moment that Dawn manifested.  
  
In this story's case I had it as she was running through the status checks.  
  
  


 


End file.
